Hepatic Veno-Occlusive Disease clinical trials

Validating Ultrasound Biomarkers for Hepatic Sinusoidal Obstruction Syndrome in Pediatric Hematopoietic Cell Transplant Patients

Hepatic veno-occlusive disease/sinusoidal obstructive syndrome (VOD/SOS) is a potentially fatal complication of hematopoietic cell transplant (HCT). Historically VOD/SOS has been clinically diagnosed using the modified Seattle criteria or the Baltimore criteria. The modified Seattle Criteria define VOD/SOS diagnosis is made when two of the following three criteria are present in a patient within 21 days of transplantation: hyperbilirubinemia (total serum bilirubin > 2 mg/dL), hepatomegaly or right upper quadrant liver pain, and weight gain (> 2% of baseline) or ascites. Other conditions like graft versus host disease, sepsis syndrome (fever and hypotension), cardiac failure, or tumor infiltration) have to be excluded. This definition was from a well-designed retrospective cohort study on 255 adult and pediatric HCT patients in which the VOD/SOS incidence was 21%. McDonald et al followed up this work with a prospective cohort study of 355 patients noting an incidence of VOD/SOS of 54%. These seminal studies have had a major impact on the field by defining clinical diagnostic criteria. An alternative diagnostic criteria (Baltimore criteria) was proposed by Jones et al as a part of a well-designed retrospective review of 235 HCT patients finding a VOD/SOS incidence of 22%. Jones defined VOD/SOS as the presence of hyperbilirubinemia (total serum bilirubin > 2 mg/dL) along with at least 2 of 3 other findings: hepatomegaly, ascites, and weight gain (> 5% of baseline).